Getting Started Live Streaming Your DJ Sets

One of the fastest ways to get really good at DJing is to put yourself in situations where you’re expected to perform, and while playing gigs is the best way to get this type of practice in, streaming your sets is a great alternative. You can stream whenever you want, invite your friends and fans to listen in, and you’re more likely to take your session seriously. In this article, we take a look at some of the best services on the web for quickly getting your sets live streaming for the world to hear.

BEFORE YOU STREAM: SETTING UP AUDIO

The easiest way to stream audio is often to route the Record Out into your laptop's Line In.

Being a digital DJ, you’ll have to make a few extra considerations when you’re setting up the audio routing for your stream. You want to send your master output to the streaming site – but for latency reasons, you shouldn’t use your stream as the “booth” monitor.

Our recommendation is that you set up your DJ workflow as normal, but find a way to send a master or record output back into your computer that you can select on your streaming site. If you’re using a controller like the Kontrol S4/S2 or the VCI-400 SE, use the second output on your controller for this. If you’re mixing externally, check the back of your DJ mixer to figure out what secondary options exist.

For a more advanced solution, you could use an internal audio routing program like Jack OSX to split the master output and cue outputs from your DJ application to send them to the streaming service and your cue channels, respectively.

Helpful Tip:Remember that outputs are controlled by their respective knobs, so if you get your levels set at the beginning of a stream and then find yourself turning up your master, you could very quickly start clipping in your stream. Keep an eye on your stream levels, and try turning up your speakers independently of your master. If you’re lucky enough to have a record out or booth out, use that instead, as those levels are independent from Master outputs.

MIXLR: OUR FAVORITE AUDIO STREAMING SITE

Mixlr's homepage radio dial

Site: Mixlr (http://mixlr.com)
Cost: Free / PremiumBest Feature: Simple no-frills setup – the kind of site where your grandmother could easily figure out how to listen.What’s Missing: We’d like to see a clever integration with Twitter.DJ, especially as there’s no tracklisting feature on the site.

Mixlr was launched back in 2010, but received a complete overhaul in design earlier this year. At first glance, the site already makes us rethink how we view web radio, with the above pictured dial showing the current livestreams on the site (the size of each section is relative to how many stations each genre has). Mixlr has just enough of a feature set to satisfy nearly every requirement we might want from an audio-only streaming service for free, without becoming overloaded with unnecessary clutter that plagues so many similar sites.

The Mixlr streaming application is very straightforward - it look me longer to upload this screencap and write this caption than it did to start streaming.

Once you’ve signed up for a free account, starting a stream from your DJ software is as simple as downloading a small application that lets you select an input source for your stream, checking your levels, and hitting start. Mixlr can automatically send out links to Twitter and Facebook, and when you’ve finished your live stream, saving the entire set is as simple as a click of a button.

Mixlr also gives you the option of streaming a set exclusively made up of Soundcloud tracks – and while this isn’t as useful from a DJ perspective, it could be a simple way to do a quick radio show of tracks that you’re digging right now or perhaps a roundup of tracks that you’ve released.

Mixlr’s core features are free, with unlimited streaming time and listeners, as well as no ads, but if you decide to upgrade to the Premium account (£4.99/$7.75), you get higher quality audio streaming, and you can also download your saved sets or publish them directly to Soundcloud or Mixcloud.

SHOUTCAST AND ICECAST – BE AN INTERNET RADIO STAR

Virtual DJ and Traktor both come ready to broadcast to Internet Radio.

If you DJ on Virtual DJ Pro 8 or Traktor Pro 2, you’ll most likely have noticed that both of these programs have built in broadcasting abilities. These features are designed to hook into a larger internet radio station, usually run by a community of similar music tastes – and getting involved in an internet radio station is a great way to network and build a fanbase while regularly playing for strangers.

In Traktor and Virtual DJ, setting up your program for streaming is simple – just get the details from the station and plug them into the broadcasting settings! For Serato and Ableton, you’ll need to use an application like “Broadcast Using This Tool” to send your audio.

Obviously you won’t be starting off broadcasting straight to internet radio giant DI.FM, so instead check out some smaller but still significant stations like Purple Radio (DJTT Forum mod Photojojo is a regular contributor) or SSRadio.

You can also start your own internet radio station using a service like Listen To My Radio – but it doesn’t have the advantages of having a pre-existing audience who you can play to.

While DJ TechTools doesn’t have it’s own regularly broadcasting internet radio station (we’ve talked about it before), maybe we should start one – we’d need to find someone to take on the role of managing the entire thing! I’ve started a thread in the forums here, let’s see what happens.

Know of any other great internet radio stations looking for new DJs? Let us know in the comments!

We’d be remiss without mentioning the heavyweight giant in the streaming world, which is designed to allow users to stream audio and video. Ustream is well-known for being the leader of the pack in the video streaming world, having emerged over five years ago when online video was starting its heyday. While capable of doing audio-only streams, Ustream really shines if you’re feeling adventurous: this could be a great chance to take Ean’s tips for great DJ videos and try to apply some of them in a live situation.

As a DJ, video streaming makes a lot of sense when you’re doing something visually compelling. One of the great features that Ustream has is the ability to add a live screen capture as a video input. The only issue is that at some point, managing a video stream easily become too much to do while DJing at the same time. The best streams would ideally have someone else producing the video, making sure that at the moments where your hands are manipulating effects and playback, the audience gets to see both the video and screencapture.

Ustream also inserts fairly regular advertisements into broadcasts from free accounts – making it automatically inferior to Mixlr for any audio-only streamers. With the starter ad-free account coming in at $99/month, it’s not a very realistic purchase for most casual streaming DJs. There are tons of additional features that Ustream Pro offers – like multiple camera angles – but unless you’re hosting a regular livestreaming DJ show for more than a hundred users, it’s not quite worth it.

WHO DOES VIDEO STREAMING BEST?

In the world of DJ video streams, there are a number of sites who do regular quality broadcasts of impressive DJs. We’re big fans of the BoilerRoom.tv streams, weekly sessions with some of the biggest DJs in the world, broadcasted live from clubs in Berlin, London, Los Angeles, and New York. Check out Richie Hawtin’s mix from the end of 2011 on Boiler Room below.

WE DREAM OF INCREDIBLE TOOLS

While the tools listed here are great ways to get started streaming DJ sets, let’s imagine a tool built specifically for DJs who want to stream their sets – what would it do? What would the key features be? Would you pay money for it? Some of the most powerful and exciting ideas come out of discussions of current tools and how they could be improved, so let us know your thoughts down in the comment section.

Is it possible to stream through the middle app directly from an iPod Classic by plugging them together at the headphone jacks?

Julissa

*mixlr, not middle.

Sheldon Lockhart

I have a pioneer ddj sx. Which external audio interface do you recommend I use for audio broadcasting only (no video)? and can you walk me through the set up. I will be using B.U.T.T.

JCruz

how would you connect your z2 mixer with an stream account? I would like to do a video stream but have the audio sound a lot better than it does right now. the audio is coming from my webcam which is not the best. help please

I noticed a few posts about broadcasting license … can anyone clarify what is required ?

dreamlogicc

Any idea how Boiler Room gets around the quick copyright detection with Youtube? I stream my vinyl sets through youtube, but usually get shut down after about 30 minutes for ‘copyright violation’…

sebastian revan

all i need to love a platform or a website is the capability of streaming audio straight from traktor, since this makes your monitoring a lot easier and integration with android and IOS, a widget would be great, so people can listen to my sets like they’re listening to their music!

Vadim

Mixlr’s got great design and it’s come a long way since its founding back in ’10.

There’s also another solution that we’re developing at Coffeelab.vc, a startup incubator.

It’s called Croice and it lets lets anyone host live broadcasts for free through their own website or blog using a simple widget that we provide: http://croice.com/

T&L

anyone got any ideas of how to stream from traktor using an s4 and external mic to a shout cast???? traktor only uses ogg vorbis and shoutcast needs mp3 format…..please help!!!

Kevin

How Do I Stream WIth Serato DJ?

Sinhaus

Try looking at my post above. You have to hook your hardware up properly, and run the stream through a website like Shoutcast, Icecast, mixlr, Awdio, etc.

So I’ve started having this borderline unbearable problem with Mixlr. With its recordings in particular. Basically, somewhere in the transcoding process they have a bug that creates skips in the audio randomly. Most of the time it will skip backward a few seconds or so, but occasionally there are large skips ahead. Like I just had a mix skip somewhere between probably 2 and 5 minutes ahead and 2 keys (Gm/6A to Am/8A).

I hate it because the people who listened live didn’t hear the issue, but if you go back and listen to the showreel it’s there and it sounds like I did a completely random hard cut. I’ve spoken to their support about it before and they mentioned some fixes on the way and to keep an eye on it over the following two weeks, but this was months ago and there’s been no perceivable improvement…

Does anyone else have a good suggestion for a free audio-online streaming service? I don’t remember why, but I didn’t care for Mixify when I first tried it. It might be time for me to try it out again…

Here’s the link to the mix in case you’re wondering what I’m going on about. It happens right about at the 9:50 mark.

so i really need help with this . im running windows with Traktor Pro 2.5.1, with a S2 controller, i wanna broadcast using mixlr but it says sound is silent, ive tried all the setting’s but nothing seams to work can somebody plz help ?!

Ok, I am gonna try and not RAGE too much …
I have been trying for the last 8 hrs to set up a “quick” live stream/channel for djing!
My girlfriend is currently away on holiday and I wanted to do a surprise live mix for her and her friends and party with them live via the great interwebs.
Great idea, did it happen no! Over the last 8 hrs I have tried : Livestream, Ustream, Mixlr, Listen to my radio and finally Mixify and not one of these gave me the result I was looking for…
I would of gladly paid someone if there was a decent detailed step by step set up and connection video on any of these sites relevant to my needs and set up. Sure a quick we can do all this and it’s great vid they all have getting it to do that smoothly is another story – FRUSTRATING.
Here is my 2 cents and experience and questions.
Let me first say I like Mixify and your interface and DJ scene idea is cool the rest of your platform is very cool too and it has much promise.
Some additions like live video would be cool as others have mentioned. Most important the option to stream live from software like Traktor etc for PC users as soundflower is not a option for us.
Other than that tech issues aside I think you are onto a winner and I cannot wait for the bugs to be worked out and to get my set up going properly to mix some MONSTAR live stream sessions.
My current set is : Laptop win 7, Traktor 2 Pro , Hercules DJ controller mx 4
I have routed my dj controllers main audio output with a rca with rca splitter and ran it into my laptop mic input as advised. Sound is okish. Best sound was on ustream … and video for that matter.
Main issue this far is this why can I not get a clean signal out and a earphone que option that does not send everything crazy… ? I’m a oldschool DJ must have earphones!
When I cue the sound doubles or plays over main audio out even when channel/fader is closed.
Wtf? Is this sound card related how do you stop this ? The controller I’m using has got a external sound card. HELP. Can’t mix like this … Is there i ternal traktor options on routing that I have over looked?
I will also be buying the vestax VCI- 400 Ean Goldman edition soon will I have this to deal with issue then too? How do I get a clear audio out and a clear que signal that does not effect it when used? Ean make a video – plz.
Can someone please make a video with all connectivity options in detail – plug this in there like this, add to this setting here like this, this is how you get clear signal and que. Here is what you gotto watch out for etc.
Live streaming is going to continue blowing up more and it sucks balls when you cant get ur shit to work properly.
Also tried below … no luck either as application did not detect the changes.
I WANNA MIX AND STREAM :(http://support.mixlr.com/custo…

I hate to be that guy, but one thing that is not addressed here is licensing with an internet stream. Forgive me if I am mistaken, as I am trying to sort through the legal aspect myself. The PROs (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC) collect royalties for both the underlying musical composition and the sound recording. Many-most DJs don’t have to worry about this because the club pays these royalties (they have a blanket license for each PRO). Broadcasting your mixes that contain other copyrighted works now makes you in charge of paying these royalties. Also, digital “non-interactive” transmissions (internet streams) also require a separate license with Sound Exchange to cover “live performance” in a digital format.

dreamlogicc

^^ I was wondering how Boiler Room gets around that with youtube streaming – and who to even talk to at youtube about that – my livestreams through youtube get pulled for copyright violation every time :/

Dillon Bradley

I am curious about his too. I am looking to set up a livestreaming channel but am not sure which streaming service to use. My preference would be YouTube due to being the most well known, but I have heard alot of bad things about there content id system. I am also curious how BoilerRoom get away with it? Surely they do not contact every artists in advance of a stream.

Another new one on the market is Mixify (http://www.mixify.com). They let DJs broadcast live or stream a pre-recorded mix in a virtual venue w/ avatars, chat, and more. They also link your social profiles for liking so that you can gain fans throughout, and will brand the venues for themed weeks, labels, or anything else.

Hello thanks for the information, very well written , Being a Dj for many years on http://secondlife.com ,I been with Neostreams for years check them out for the ogg streaming and mp3 http://neostreams.info/ so far they have great support

I actually have a lot of fun streaming to http://secondlife.com A lot of virtual night clubs provide the stream but you can buy one for literally pennies on the dollar inside the game. I had to figure out a trick for streaming from the line in on traktor and sending meta data to a mp3 stream. Save this link http://djsizzly.com/content/sending-track-meta-data-shoutcast-using-traktor-and-some-other-stuff for a how to including pearl script.
I also have used a service called fubar which is kind of a facebook / chatroom for lonely moms and alcoholics who live to far from a bar. It works on lower end computers where as second life needs quite the machine to work properly. People do video and audio stream inside the lounges or chat rooms.
I also use podomatic.com which is a free podcast hosting service. I can post up to 10 hours of audio at a time and they give you enough bandwidth on the free tier to get you started.

The open source dj software Mixxx has icecast streaming built in, no need to run any outs, you can stream right from the software.

Animine

I been video streaming for a couple of years now, i use a separate system for the broadcasting. I run a rca to mini jack cable from my mixers record out to the line in of the laptop used for broadcast. On that system I use Adobe flash media encoder to broadcast video & audio to a dedicated stream on http://www.justin.tv/animine . On my DJ laptop I run NiceCast to broadcast to an icecast server for audio only. And since a few months I been having a go in the google hangouts, only downside is that people can mute you, but there are scripts/extensions for that :) This is an example video of how the stream looks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga_IpzwRuNI&feature=plcp

Guest

Hey how would i stream with serato in hangouts?

Djslade

For live streaming dj’s check out Harmonynet.net every Weds. night. They also archive the show to watch back during the week. Streams in 1080p!

Mel ‘ravin mad’ Gibson

Can someone explain the point regarding”Our recommendation that you set up your DJ workflow as normal, but find a way to send a master or record output back into your computer that you can select in your streaming site. If you’re using a controller like the Kontrol S4/S2 or the VCI-400 SE, use the second output on your controller for this.” How do you get the output from S4 back into laptop (I use a pre-Retina Macbook Pro) – USB or that line in? I am currently using Nicecast but run into big time latency issues when I hijack the audio stream.. Thanks

Photojojo

You should try and drop the stream quality in Nicecast. I stream at 192 and have virtually no problems with Nicecast.

Mel ‘ravin mad’ Gibson

It was working perfectly for nearly a year and then for some reason, and this is weird, as soon as I started broadcasting the headhones stopped working on the S4. So I changed from broadcasting from Traktor and hijacked system audio – that is where latency issues have turned up…That is why I am interested in routing audio back into my mac and capturing that audio signal – if you know what I mean….

Anonymous

I’ve been video streaming my sets for quite a while now, and I’ve tried to improve my setup until I got to the best balance for audio and video quality that my connection bandwidth could reach. I use Livestream’s service.

First of all you have to be aware that to get the best quality there are alternate tools to the free ones that Livestream or Ustream will provide, two that I’ve used: Flash Media Live Encoder and Vidblaster.

For my DJ setup I use Traktor with a Mixtrack controller with no internal audio, so I have an Audio 4DJ as my sound interface. My master out goes into a small Peavey PV6 mixer that I use to split the signal so I can have master signal to my PA system, but also master signal back to the inputs of my Audio 4. That audio input is what I’ll feed into the streaming software. The second audio channel of my Audio 4 (cue) goes into the “tape” of my PV6 so I plug in my headphones to the mixer ( or to the headphones out of the Audio 4).

For video I use two Webcams: a Microsoft Cinema HD cam pointed at my controller so viewers can see what I’m doing, and also the internal cam of my laptop pointed at me. This is where Vidblaster helps because it allows real time switching between both cams, and also cool effects like showing both cams simultaneously, inserts with my Twitter name, or a real time view of my Traktor screen. All this can be switched in real time with the push of a button.

In order to have all this running at the same time you need a fairly powerful laptop (otherwise you’ll need two computers). I’m running on a HP quad-core with 4 gigs of Ram.

Lightning is crucial if you wanna have smooth video, so Ive installed a fluorescent lamp on top of my table. If your lightning is bad then your camera’s frame rate goes to the floor.

And that’s it… The rest is tweaking in order to maximize your upload bandwidth and the resources of your computer. I’ve streamed 2 hours long sets with no trouble with this setup.

Jo Koni

I didn’t realize lightning would be important for a video.
I thought it might be dangerous.
So how do you do it? DJ on your rooftop during a storm?

Nathaniel Fagan

Wow man. This really helps out with my venture in learning about stuff. I’m screen capping your comment for keeps.

Blaino de maino

USTREAM WILL REALLY PLACE POTENTIAL DJ’S ON NEW PODIUM,A PODIUM WHEREBY THEY CAN EXCHANGE SKILLS AND GROW THEIR SKILL.THEY WOULD ALSO RECEIVE THE NECCESARY RECOGNITION,ITS GREAT! FROM BLAINO DE MAINO A.K.A DJ BEMINE WITH INTRODUCTARY ALBUM:BLAINE AND HIS ALL YOURS! AVAILABLE IN SOUTH AFRFICA SOON TO BE INTERNATIONALY RECOGNISED

Bjo konienikun

Stop shouting!!

Filitico

SOON

Wefew

what about be-at tv? they stream the biggest festival and club nights around the world!

Spacecamp

Very true – I found myself watching a bunch during WMC!

BinaryFX

I am involved with a website that provides a location for DJ to broadcast. I am not sure if it is kosher to post the link and name. If a DJTT staff member will allow it I would be more than happy to work with DJTT folks. I would love to share the info but dont want to hijack the site.

We have been running for over 6 years but have done a complete redesign of the site and backend services and we are looking to grow our DJ roster as well as our community. We are an EDM only station but we welcome all forms of EDM. If you are interested register on the site and check out this post…

If you have a mixer without a record output (like my pcm 05 iii) you could use your FX SEND output to stream/record your mixes.

Spacecamp

Great tip!

RockingClub

See a new DJ radio plattform at the horizon: Beatport Radio :D

Spacecamp

Hah! They do seem to be expanding out into every possible service they can think of, so maybe so!

djalphi

I use Influxis.com, same people that do live.deadmau5.com

You can get the same app he uses (and I use, djalphi.com/live to see it) if you just call and ask them, and they’ll help you set it up over the phone. Great bunch of guys, and no I don’t work for them =)

i use livestream and a second computer to receive the audio output run livestream. this way i don’t have to toggle between serato that’s running on my main laptop. on the other hand, if you only have one computer/laptop, that Jack OSX mentioned seems interesting. Were there any other writeups (how-to’s) on that in the past?

Ves

I wonder if anybody tried using Google Hangout/On Air

Spacecamp

Great idea! Anyone done this?

Animine

Look for Lionell Jansen (DJ Animine) on google+, starting there in 45 mins, been doing this for a couple of months now.

Lionell Jansen

Look for Lionell Jansen (DJ Animine) on google+, starting there in 45 mins, been doing this for a couple of months now.

dreamlogicc

I used google hangouts/onair for my first few broadcasts, when I started live streaming about a year ago. I kept running in to copyright violation issues – Google would pull the stream when they detected a song… worked quite well for live PA concerts and experimental/unlicensed music though.

Maikel

mixlr is great for a quick n easy radioshow. only the output is 96Kbps, which is still a big thumbs down I reckon..

Joe Sandoval

so which service has the better output?

Luther Helms

Forgot to mention, using xsplit neatly gets you around the “no multi cams” in ustream basic accounts. :)

Luther Helms

Audio Distribution amp off line/rec out (I have a 1in 4 out ADA), from there RCA straight to – streaming PC mic/line in, audio recorder, rec on SL4/Audiowhatever)…back to another channel for monitoring…another to record audio…go crazy, whatever, super simple.

Video: use xsplit for “whatever you want to put in the stream” (multi cams, overviews, marques, promos, etc), capture xsplit into ustream producer (free) for in house recording control, etc.

I’m a bit of a streaming junkie (heh).

AleOle

Hey Luther. Can you please give me a hand as a “streaming junkie” with this…
I would like to stream through flash media live encoder with 2 gopro hero 3 in 1080p or 720p and be able to stream and record at the same time. Also i would like to be able to change cameras any time i want. Please let me know your thoughts about the additional equipment that i’ll want or send me a mail at oranjebusparties@gmail.com
Thanks.

Kieranjobling

how would you route a ddj t1 to mixlr i have tried but it just seems to be using the microphone in the mac ? can any one shed some light on it?? thanks

If you like to see live streaming you should check out http://www.be-at.tv They stream from all over the wold at all kinds of events and record all the sets so you can watch them back later. I love this site, so full support from me!

Okoji

I will love to know more about this channel. I love to stream live.

Guest

really enjoyed reading this :) i didn’t realize it’s so easy to do a live stream